Mark Steed

Interim or locum headships are becoming more common as the rate of turnover of heads increases and recruitment lead times take longer. This relatively new phenomenon should be understood against the backdrop of a growing global shortage of leadership talent. Fewer people have the requisite breadth of skills, or are willing to take on the range of responsibilities that come with modern headship.

Nothing prepares you for the first day as a headteacher – all the more so in my case as, in my mid-thirties, I went from being a boarding housemaster to the headship of a small, rural independent school. I leapfrogged those important apprenticeship roles of assistant and deputy head. The first SLT meeting I ever attended, I found myself chairing. I had no idea what to expect taking up the reins.

All schools operate within tight fiscal restraints, whether it is a maintained school facing an unfunded pay award, an independent school grappling with VAT costs and the loss of business rate relief or an international school facing profit demands from the owner. However, it is not just money where heads and principals have limited scope to shape their school: time, people and space are all constrained resources, too, and need to be managed like a financial budget.